Lord Mayor the Hon. Kon Vatskalis

Kon was born 4 April 1957 on the Greek island of Cephalonia and spent most of his life in Greece in Athens. After living in Athens for a short time Kon immigrated to Australia in January 1993. In Perth Kon continued his studies in public health, achieving a bachelor’s degree in environmental health in 1986 from WAIT and a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science from Murdoch University in 1989.

Kon came to Darwin in 1994, where he worked with the Department of Health before joining the Indigenous Health Service, Danila Dilba. During that time, he completed a Graduate Certificate in Public Service Management through Flinders University.

In 2001 Kon was elected to the NT Legislative Assembly as the Member for Casuarina and he was immediately elevated to Minister. He served as a Minster from 2001-12 in the Territory Labour Government, in a variety of portfolios including Health, Mining and Primary Industries, Tourism, Sport, Infrastructure and Planning and Children and Families. He resigned from the NT Legislative Assembly in 2014 and in 2015 started work for the Leukaemia Foundation. In 2014 he was awarded the title “Honourable” for life from HM the Queen for his services to politics in the NT. In 2017 Kon was elected Lord Mayor of Darwin.